BLACK MAGIC WOMAN by Justin Gustainis

BLACK MAGIC WOMAN (Amazon USA, UK, Canada) by Justin Gustainis released just a couple of days ago through Solaris, but my "darker" review colleagues have been all over it like blood on a vampire's teeth. Here's the blurb:

Occult investigator Quincey Morris and his “consultant”, white witch Libby Chastain, are hired to free a family from a deadly curse that appears to date back to the Salem witch trials. Fraught with danger, the trail finds them stalking the mysterious occult underworlds of Boston, San Francisco, New Orleans and New York, searching out the root of the curse. After surviving a series of terrifying attempts on their lives, the two find themselves drawn inexorably towards Salem itself – and the very heart of darkness.

Black Magic Woman marks the start of an electrifying news series of supernatural thrillers following the exploits of occult investigators Quincey Morris and Libby Chastain, as they search out evil in the darkest corners of America.

Actually, according to the author, there aren't many vampires in it; just in the first chapter. Love Vampires confirms this in their review, where they gave it five stars, regardless. Kimberly over at Darque Reviews, who is fast becoming one of my favorite reviewers, also enjoyed it. Angela the SciFiChick, who was already one of my favorite reviewers, enjoyed it with some very slight reservations.

I also found an article about it in UK SF Book News. Gustainis has managed to garner some rather fabulous blurbs:

“…better than any of the manuscripts I’ve been asked to read and blurb on by various publishers.”
- Jim Butcher, author of the Dresden Files

“Justin is a first class writer; he's smart and he's fun, he moves quickly and he takes corners at speed. Every time you think you know where he's going, he makes a point of going somewhere else. His characters are sharp and vivid, his dialogue crackles with wit and tension, and when it comes to the scarier corners of the magical underworld, he knows his stuff.”
- Simon R. Green, New York Times best-selling author of the Nightside series

Pretty exciting stuff for a debut author! The author has a website, which has a teaser about the next Quincey Morris Supernatural Investigation. He also has a MySpace site, complete with eerie music.